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Kirsten Gillibrand was sworn in as the Junior Senator for New York, filling the seat vacated by Hillary Clinton.

Norm Coleman has accepted a job as a consultant and strategic adviser for the Republican Jewish Coalition. His lawsuit challenging the recount in the Minnesota Senate contest has been scheduled to begin January 26, 2009.

Ken Salazar now serves as Secretary of the Interior for the Obama administration. Michael Bennet will fill his vacant Senate seat.

Hillary Clinton has been confirmed as Secretary of State for the Obama administration. Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand will fill her vacant Senate seat.

Between 2004-2007, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) allegedly funneled nearly $80,000 in campaign cash to a company run by his son to build and operate a pair of websites one expert valued at no more than $1,000.

On December 8, 2008, Rep. Vito Fossella (R-N.Y.) was sentenced to 5 days in a Virginia cell after being found guilty of drunken driving.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled that Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) cannot withdraw his original guilty plea in his 2007 disorderly conduct case.

John Fleming, Jr. (R) defeated Paul Carmouche (D) in the Dec. 6 general election for the Louisiana 2nd House seat.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) was arrested on federal corruption charges for allegedly trying to sell an appointment to the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by President-Elect Barack Obama.

Mary Jo Kilroy (D) defeated Steve Stivers (R) in the congressional election for the 15th District of Ohio.

The judge overseeing Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens' (R) federal trial granted prosecutors an extension, a day after he threw out evidence because it had been withheld from defense attorneys.

The House and Senate approved a financial recovery bill designed to prop up the struggling financial sector of the U.S. economy, by using $700 billion in federal funding to purchase and insure troubled assets.

Rep. Peter Welch (D) received both the Democratic and Republican nominations following last week's congressional primary in Vermont.

Following weeks of delay while absentee ballots were tallied, Rep. Don Young (R) was declared winner of the Republican primary for Alaska's At-large congressional district.

On September 13, 2008, the Virgin Islands held their congressional primaries.

On August 15th, former House Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) was released from jail after serving 17 1/2 months of a 30-month sentence stemming from his involvement in the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal. Ney received early release from a Cincinnati halfway house for good behavior and participation in a drug and alcohol program.

In an August 14th ruling, a U.S. district judge rejected two lines of argument offered by Rep. William Jefferson's legal defense team, upholding racketeering charges brought against the Louisiana Representative. The legal defeat for Jefferson was the latest development in the legal battle surrounding a 16-count indictment.

On August 14th, federal prosecutors revealed new evidence against Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) in the ongoing VECO corruption case. Among the allegations was the claim that Stevens offered to use his Washington connections to push a stalled pipeline project in his home state of Alaska.

On July 29, Federal investigators announced Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) had been indicted on seven counts of making false statements on financial disclosure forms.

On July 25, a day after House Democrats fell short of moving forward legislation to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Senate Republicans successfully blocked the Senate's Democratic majority's attempt to gain cloture for its energy speculation legislation.

In a press conference July 17, Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) vehemently denied any wrongdoing regarding his use of congressional stationery to write on behalf of a school that bears his name.

The Senate voted overwhelmingly to authorize new surveillance powers for President Bush, and to provide immunity to phone companies that helped the government listen in on Americans' phone conversations without a warrant.

On July 15, 2008, Georgia held their congressional primaries while Alabama held primary runoffs in two districts.

Former North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms (R) died Friday, July 4th in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was 86.

Congress approved emergency 2008 Iraq War funding spending legislation for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and included money to fund an extension of unemployment insurance, a new veterans' education benefit and flood recovery. President Bush is expected to sign the bill this week.

An expansion of the country's Global AIDS program, which provides monetary assistance for impoverished nations affected by the disease, was blocked by a group of Republican Senators prior to the July 4th recess. The Senators sought more input in crafting the legislation.

The main housing and mortgage crisis bill got stuck in the Senate before the 4th of July recess as Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) demanded a vote on his renewable energy amendment in the face of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) efforts to pass the bill without amendments.

The Senate this week confirmed five nominees to the Federal Election Commission, ending a months-long standoff between Senate Democrats and the White House.

In reaction to the Countrywide loan scandal, all six members of the Senate Ethics Panel proposed that there should be stricter mortgage disclosure requirements for lawmakers.

Rep. Chris Cannon (R-Utah) became the third House incumbent to lose a primary this year, falling to former gubernatorial aide Jason Chaffetz in Utah’s 3rd district.

Francis “Frank” Powers, 67, the millionaire endorsed by Republican leaders as their candidate for the New York congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Vito Fossella (R-N.Y.), died Sunday in his sleep of natural causes.

Donna Edwards was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives during a special election in Maryland's 4th congressional district.

As his legal troubles mounted last year, Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) began to pay off a loan to an executive of a Maryland-based global satellite company who was cooperating with prosecutors and could potentially testify against him.

A magazine has revealed that some politicians, including Sens. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), may have received favorable mortgage deals from Countrywide Financial Corporation.

The House approved the extended unemployment (H.R.5749) bill Thursday by capturing a slim two-thirds majority of votes.